Newsletter – June – July 2017

Fire Safety

Due to the sad news of the Grenfell fire, fire safety has become a key areas of work for all landlords. The staff have recently completed the following actions

Check all fire extinguishers to make sure they are all up to date and confirm the locations of all fire extinguisher i.e. are there any in street properties

Checked the communal hallways in the: Ekarro Mondragon, Barnabas and gave deadlines for residents to remove their personal goods from the hallways. After this date, the staff will start removing and disposing of items left in communal hallways. Communal hallways must always be kept clear of good as it’s your and your neighbours escape route out of the property

We are checking to make sure we have communal keys for all building. This is ongoing. Please can you assist staff when they request copies of communal door keys

Staff had attended fire risk inspections at 9 Bonington sq. and 64 Vauxhall Grove in June 2017– reports will be sent to Ekarro by Assessor for fire safety works. These visits will restart a new rolling programme of fire assessor inspections

Staffing

New Contract Accountant – We have recently recruited a new Contract Accountant Named- Michael Jarrett to help us with the preparation of the; quarterly accounts, annual budget and the work with the Auditors to complete and file last year’s accounts. Michael will work with the team for about 4 days per month. Please give him a warm welcome if you meet him in the office

Maintenance Officer Interviews- The interviews for this post is taking place in July. The person will work to support the Director with the planed work programme that’s is required within Ekarro. Works such as: bathroom replacement programme, window and communal door and intercom replacement, fire safety works, roof and cyclical work

Finance

Auditors– We are in the process of hiring a new Audit firm to complete the 2016-17 annual accounts. This is a legal requirement and we have a deadline to complete this process by September 2017

2017-18 Budget- this year’s budget for 2017-18 will be presented to the Management Committee for approval on 26th July 2017

Good news- the contract for the Bathroom Consultant has been signed off by The Management Committee. The Consultant will manage the bathroom programme from: specifications of the bathroom, tender, obtaining contractors and motoring their works to the completion and the sign off of the work

Rent Arrears

All the woks we have mentioned above are financed by your rent payments i.e. the new bathrooms, communal doors and intercoms. An we do realise that at times your circumstances will changes which may cause you to go into rent arrears. Things such as: change of job, your HB being stopped, changes to the family.

Therefore, it is extremely important that you keep in contact with staff to update them about your changed circumstances. Also, that you keep making a regular payment to your rent accounts even if it’s not the full amount so that the situation does not get any worst

If you require any independent debt or rent advice please see the CAB link below